Why does Sevastopol have a special status? History of Sevastopol. The status of Sevastopol in the USSR

From Greek, Sevastopol translates as "the famous city". This area was developed many centuries ago. So, even five hundred years before the onset of a new era, there was a Greek colony - the famous city of Chersonesos. The choice of this place was due to the following circumstances: on the entire Black Sea coast, there is no more convenient bay.

Further development

One hundred and twelfth year before our era was marked by the entry of Chersonesos into the Pontic-Bosporan state, and then it became part of the great empire - the Roman Empire. After the fall of the last city was under the wing of Byzantium. Soon Chersonese was a center for the administration of the Byzantine colonies on the Black Sea coast. Rapid rates in it developed trade and industry. Russian princes first heard of Chersonesus, even when it was called Korsun (IX-XIII centuries.).

In the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries the history of Sevastopol came to a new stage: the city was conquered by the Turks and lost its importance, because it was simply not interesting to the new rulers. The port cities were no longer administrative centers, and their places occupied the settlements in the center of the peninsula. Thus, Bakhchisaray received the status of the capital of the khans, the Ak-Mosque (since 1748 Simferopol) and Karasubazar were of particular importance. All of them were far from the sea.

Everything changes

Subsequently, Crimea became part of the Russian Empire. In 1783, Catherine II gave the order to build the city on the site of the village of Ahtiar, which was not far from the ruins of Korsun (Chersonese).

Why does Sevastopol have a special status? The fact is that from the very beginning it played the role of the main base of the whole Black Sea fleet. The city has always had great military and political significance.

Four years after the formation of the status of Sevastopol finally consolidated: the city began to represent a naval port, it translated the civil administrative administration of the Crimea. Thus, in 1767 there was a separation of the city from the Tauride region and its attribution to naval ports of national importance. The history of Sevastopol was supplemented by a new fact: it became a full subordination of St. Petersburg and became a separate administrative district. The city was ruled by the naval administration. Naturally, she was appointed from St. Petersburg.

On February 23, 1804, the Emperor Alexander the First issued a decree, in which he consolidated the special status of Sevastopol as the main military port. At the same time, simple merchant ships were forbidden to enter it. Exception was made only by ships in distress. After repairing them, they had to leave the port immediately.

On April 30, 1809, the status of the city was expanded. Sevastopol became also the main fortress of the Black Sea. Since then, it raised the same fortress flag as in Vyborg, Kronstadt and Sveaborg.

The barbarous destruction

In 1853, the Crimean War broke out. Enemies besieged Sevastopol - the city of sailors - for three hundred forty-nine days. As a result, it turned into ruins, and with it - and the entire Black Sea fleet (it was flooded in the roadstead on the orders of Admiral Nakhimov). In 1856, the Crimean War came to an end. The Paris Peace was concluded. According to this document, Russia was forbidden to organize a fleet again in Sevastopol. Until 1871 it was a trading city and a customs station. After the annulment of the above-mentioned treaty, Alexander II restored the status of Sevastopol as the central naval port of the Empire on the Black Sea. The year 1875 was marked by the construction of railroads connecting Sevastopol with St. Petersburg and Moscow. In 1891, the construction of the Vladimir church was completed, and a year later the opening of the Chersonesus Museum. So, by 1894 the city had completely restored its status. The naval base in Sevastopol regained its former importance. Stalks of the Admiralty were not empty: construction of warships of various classes (even squadron battleships) was under way.

Mark of distinction

It is noteworthy that a special coat of arms was approved for Sevastopol. Its fundamental distinctive feature has become an obvious national importance. No city, provincial or regional coat of arms could not boast of this. So, it showed a red shield (like the capital), behind it - two crossed anchors of golden color (as well as all large port cities, for example, St. Petersburg). As the emblem, the griffin was chosen - as was the case with the Romanovs' house, but not red on the silver field, but on the contrary, which symbolized historical, not generic, biological or dynastic continuity. This once again confirms the special military-historical position of the city.

So why Sevastopol has a special status, even despite the fact that it was considered to be a fortress of the third class? After all, he simply did not have enough fortifications to raise his level! Despite the rather poor fortification and technical equipment, for Russia Sevastopol (the area of the city - nineteen thousand hectares) has always been very important. All is explained simply: it was the only major fortification on the entire southern southern boundary of the state.

New direction

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, more and more vacationers were beginning to be interested in the Black Sea. Sevastopol began to develop as a resort. Many hotels and boarding houses were built. In 1914, the Romanov Institute of Physical Methods of Treatment was opened. Specialists actively studied the impact of Crimean air, mud and sea baths on human health. The biological station thoroughly studied the fauna and flora of the Black Sea. Later, the institution was transformed into a serious research center. On its base the Aquarium of sea fishes was opened. For Russia, this was a novelty.

Revolutionary spirit

Sevastopol did not stay aloof from the events of the first Russian revolution. As you know, over the battleship Potemkin in June 1905, the Red Flag proudly rose, and already in November of this year on the ships belonging to the Black Sea Fleet, an uprising was started, headed by Lieutenant Schmidt. Soon the insurrection was suppressed, and its instigators were expected to be shot.

War time

Russia's entry into the First World War occurred in 1914. At the end of October, the German cruiser Geben fired at Sevastopol. The enemy attack was repulsed by the cruiser "George the Victorious" and coastal batteries. The Russian fleet, bravely overcoming difficulties, achieved success in the battles on the waters of the Black Sea.

As a result of careful mining of the Bosphorus Strait, the enemy lost one minelayer, one hundred and twenty motor and sailing schooners, as well as eleven transports. The aforementioned battleship "Geben" was blown up on mines on the thirteenth of December 1914.

In total, in the years of the First World War, thanks to the efforts of the Black Sea Fleet, up to fifty Turkish steamers and about three hundred other ships were destroyed. In 1915, it was supplemented by two battleships, five squadron destroyers, six submarines and two air transport with seaplanes on board.

Admiral Kolchak plays an enormous role in the success of the Russian fleet . He took command of the fleet in 1916. The Admiral worked out a plan to capture the Bosporus Strait and the attack of Istanbul, but his ideas were not allowed to materialize the revolution of 1917.

The status of Sevastopol in the USSR

The remains of the White Army were evacuated from the city in November 1920. The command of the process was taken by General Wrangel. Together with the troops of Sevastopol, the last ships of the Black Sea Fleet also left. From this moment the Soviet history of the city begins. Together with this the Red Fleet was revived. The Sevastopol Marine Plant became operational again. He carried out orders for the repair and construction of ships. More and more modern ships were being created, defense of the city from the shore was intensifying, airfields and coastal batteries were being built.

The status of Sevastopol in the USSR was restored. The city again became the most important naval center, it was rebuilt actively after the fighting destruction. In 1926 an art museum and a drama theater were opened. In the vicinity of the city, winemaking sovkhozes were formed. At that time the city inhabited about one hundred thousand people (if counted together with the sailors).

And again the war ...

The already settled peaceful life of the city was interrupted with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. On June 22, 1941, the inhabitants of Sevastopol saw four enemy planes flying in a troubled sky. It started at 3.15 in the morning with fifteen minute intervals. Each of the aircraft had two bottom magnetic mines to block the exit from the city harbor. The forces of the Black Sea Fleet responded to the enemy with artillery fire. An hour earlier, the People's Commissar of the Navy for the Black Sea Fleet, Kuznetsov, issued an order to declare the operational readiness number one. As a result of his far-sightedness, the enemy's plan for complete mining of the exit from the bay and the destruction of the blocked ships was foiled. Only three of the eight dropped mines fell on the fairway.

The German command decided to attack Sevastopol again. The city map suggested that it could be done from the shore. The fascist troops managed to break through to the Crimea in September of 1941. October 29, the city was in a state of siege, and the next day the German troops tried to seize it. The first to encounter the enemy was the fifty-fourth battery of the Black Sea Fleet. She struck at the eleventh motorized column under the command of General Manstein. Almost simultaneously joined the forces of the Marine Corps, in an emergency order formed from sailors from ships and cadets of the naval school. The truly heroic defense of the city began. It lasted two hundred and fifty days. Soviet troops withstood the pressure of the enemy and did not yield to their native land.

After this failure, the German command made three more attempts to take the city: November 11 and December 17, 1941, and also on June 7, 1942.

Chasen, the French historian, calculated that over the last twenty-five days of the 250-day siege, the Germans had dropped the same number of bombs to Sevastopol as Britain had to Germany in two years of military operations.

After the defeat of the front of the Crimea, the fascists were able to cut all the waterways of communication of the Caucasus and Sevastopol. Thus, the besieged city was left without food. The battles for Sevastopol were fought until the fourth of July, and in some areas - until the twelfth, until the Soviet soldiers did not come to the end of ammunition. About seventy thousand officers, soldiers and sailors were captured because they could not be evacuated.

The Sevastopol defense had undeniable military and political significance during the Great Patriotic War. What did the heroic fighters manage to do? They blocked a large number of Romanian and German troops, upsetting all the plans of the fascist command. The notorious "spring offensive" of the Germans was thwarted, including thanks to the courage of the Sevastopolites. Their iron stamina was determined by the fact that the Nazis suffered massive human and material losses (in the eight months of the siege, four hundred fascist tanks, nine hundred aircraft, many combat weapons, and up to three hundred thousand soldiers were wounded or killed). In addition, the enemies lost in pace and in time.

In April of 1944 the process of liberation of Sevastopol began. On April 15, the advance units of the 4th Ukrainian Front managed to reach the defensive lines of the city. Sapun-mountain, which became the place of the key position of the German defense, was taken on May 7 by the soldiers of the Maritime and 51st Armies. On May 9, 1944, the city was finally liberated. At Cape Khersones Soviet soldiers captured the remnants of Hitler's troops.

Since May 1965, Sevastopol is the Hero City. History has shown that it is not for nothing that it has the status of the most important fortification object of the country.

Recovery

The war was over, but these were not all the trials through which the city's population passed. Sevastopol had to be restored. This required thousands of hands. In the course of the battles Sevastopol was almost completely destroyed. Photos of the city are horrifying at the time: the most beautiful place was in ruins. Specialists estimated that the material damage inflicted by the fascists amounted to two and a half billion rubles! The city was completely deprived of communications, transport, communication systems. In addition, ninety percent of residential developments were destroyed. It was painful to look at Sevastopol. Photos of the city will forever remain a grim monument of the cruelty of war.

After the victory over the enemy, an equally difficult stage of reconstruction began. In the city at that time, only three thousand civilians survived. It was discussed above why Sevastopol has a special status. Given this information, it becomes clear the decision of the Soviet government to rebuild the city among the first.

At the end of the fifties, work began on the formation of the nuclear-missile Navy. New developments in the field of rocket weapons were tested in the Black Sea. Since then, the Black Sea Fleet and the cooperating associations of the USSR Armed Forces have been able to successfully resist any aggressors, not only on the Turkish coasts, but also in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Why does Sevastopol have a special status? After the war, the city became also the largest industrial center. So, in it actively developed fish-producing and fish-processing production. On the basis of the instrument-making plant "Musson", radio equipment and a wide range of navigation instruments were produced. Specialists of the marine plant built and repaired civil and military ships.

general information

The sister cities of Sevastopol are Kronstadt, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Moscow, Kerch, Istanbul and Minsk. This list is updated from time to time. Annually on the fourteenth of June, the day of the city is celebrated . Sevastopol is filled with music, various festivals, exhibitions and concerts are held. Solemn events are held for two weeks.

The city was dedicated to the creation of the famous singer Alexander Marshal. "The great Russian city of Sevastopol" is a song that is an unofficial anthem. It can often be heard at the celebrations of the city day.

Sevastopol is a closed city from 1939 to 1959. For twenty years at the entrance from Yalta and Simferopol, there were special posts of the commandant's service.

In August 1991, the Crimea and Sevastopol (the city of sailors) withdrew to the newly proclaimed independent republic - Ukraine. The Russian fleet had the opportunity to stay in the city only on a leasehold basis for a naval base.

In March 2014, the independent Republic of Crimea was proclaimed, the special status of which was assigned to Sevastopol. This was made possible by the popular referendum held the day before. After the appeal to the Russian Federation by members of the Crimean Parliament, a draft interstate agreement was signed on the accession of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation. On March 21, this document was ratified by the Russian president.

As you can see, even a brief history of Sevastopol makes it possible to assess the historical significance of this city.